OVERVIEW
Scouting the World (STW) is an experience that happens once every two years for our group. It’s typically around 25 days, and on an STW year, either our German friends at Stamm Lörick come visit us, or we visit them. In 2018, Stamm Lörick came to the US, and you can find a slideshow of that experience at the bottom of this page. There are four main components of STW:
STAY AT A SCOUT CAMP
When the Germans come here, they stay at an American scout camp for week. Recently, this has been either Camp Phillips or Camp Tesomas. The merit badges they earn don’t count toward ranks, but they get to participate in activities that they typically don’t get to (Shotgun Shooting is a popular one.)
In Germany, the German leaders put on their summer camp. For what must be a tremendous amount of work, they find a suitable location, set up camp, craft activities and lessons, and make meals over a two week period. When we are there, we participate in these activities, learn skills, and sing songs around a campfire in their black tent.
HIGH ADVENTURE HIKE
In the US, we take the Germans backcountry hiking for about 5 days in the mountains. On most trips we end up in the Rocky Mountains, typically in Montana or Wyoming, but we’ve also gone east to the Appalachian mountains. On the hikes, we bring all our own gear — tents, stoves, water filters, food — everything. But we also realize that not everyone is an experienced backpacker, so we split into a few groups by skill level.
In Germany, the hiking is much more glamorous. We typically go to the Alps, in either southern Germany or Austria. On these hikes, we only have to bring snacks, clothes, and a thin sleeping bag liner, because the Alps have huts that we can stay at. These huts have beds, hot meals, and sometimes even WiFi!
CITY TOUR
The Germans pick out two or three cities for us to visit when we are there. We’ll travel by bus or train, stay in hostels, and learn about the cities and their history first-hand from the German scouts. We aren’t left on some tour bus while a guide drones on with generic facts about old churches; we’re walking around with our German friends and are able to have conversations with them to get their perspective on their history.
The US version of the city tour is a bit trickier to pull off. Because of how geographically sparse our cities are, we usually aren’t able to hit very many. Therefore, we try to visit a major US city along with our hike (it was Denver in 2018,) and we also wrap this into our host family stay.
HOST FAMILY STAY
At the end of STW, we stay with the scouts in their homes. This provides a more intimate and immersive experience of German life. We see what they eat, how they get around, and they plan some social events for us to do while we’re there. It varies by host family, of course, but past activities have included going to a public swimming pool, having a cookout, seeing a soccer game, and visiting a chocolate museum.
When they come here, we do the same for them and show them what an American household is like. Some of the events we’ve done in the past are visiting the Mall of America, going to a drive in, and watching a baseball game. We also try to spend a few days at a cabin up north if we’re able to.
SPOOL CEREMONY
At the very end of STW, we have a Spool Ceremony. We sing songs, tell stories, and award everyone involved on the trip a spool, which goes on a string of leather around their neck. It is a way to commemorate the experience we have had and a way for older scouts to brag about how many trips they have been on. There are some people (both Germans and Americans) that are into the double digits on how many spools they have. It’s a visual indicator of the lasting friendships that this group creates.
